An Unexpected Friendship
by cwtch
Summary: Matthew and his foster brother Alfred walk together to the bus stop. An amusing reenactment of a naruto move occurs, someone ends up with a bloody nose, and Matthew scores a new friendship with a fellow student named Gilbert. I wrote this based on a post by matthewbeilschmidts that they let me write.


"Alfred!" shouted Matthew, running up the sidewalk to catch up with his step-brother. Finally by his side, panting with excitement, he exclaimed, "Alfred!"

Alfred looked up from his phone, pulling out an earbud as he looked to his side. A smile lit his face as he recognized Matthew. "Mattie, bro! What's up?"

"Just didn't want to be left to walk to the bus stop alone, that's all," explained Matthew, crinkling his nose at the thought. He hated walking the long distance from their house to the school's bus stop. Especially since the crisp air was chilling with the oncoming east coast winter. Matthew was used to the cold, having lived through rough and blizzard-like winters for much of his life with his old family in Canada.

He supposed he missed the many trees with their little leaves covered by snow, and the thick white blanket enveloping all of the ground and tops of homes and cars. The thick sweaters and coming home to hot cups of cocoa and warm blankets on his bed. It wasn't much different here, though. There were plenty of trees, especially on Alfred's dad's farm, and it snowed here, too.

The family he had before Alfred's was nice enough. They treated him like he was really their son. They died, though, in a car accident while on a road trip in the states. The local police officers figured it'd be easier to put him in a US orphanage instead of sending him back to Canada alone to an empty house. The people _before_ those-his _birth_ parents- signed up for a closed adoption the moment he was born.

Surprisingly, the two boys looked somewhat alike, in the facial structure and hair color (though Matthew's was longer), but Alfred's eyes were more of the blue you'd see in the sky on a sunny South Carolina day, or the sea just off of Miami beach. Matthew's were darker, more of the dark hue of the sea between the Fjords, or the evening sky just after sunset.

Alfred's father, Alfred J. Senior, said Matthew shouldn't be afraid to refer to himself as his son, or Alfred's brother, and that he didn't have to tell anyone that he was adopted. That made Matthew immensely grateful. He worried that if the kids at his new school new that not only was he from a different country, but that he was adopted, too, he'd get bullied. Alfred made sure that Matthew knew he "wouldn't put up with any douchebags picking on his baby brother".

Alfred nodded in understanding, then turned off his music, stashing his phone away in his bag. "So, ya' ready for your first day of sophomore year, little bro?" Matthew gulped and confessed he wasn't in the slightest. Alfred didn't seem surprised. He moved closer to Matthew and said, "Ta be honest, I ain't either." 

"Eh?" Matthew was completely astonished. "Are you nervous?"

"I ain't nervous, but that's because I know some kids," Alfred amended. "It's just, I always imagined Pa would be droppin' me off, and then takin' me home ta see Ma. I always thought I'd come home ta Ma askin' how her baby boy's first day of school went. But now that- now that she ain't here no more, I-"

Alfred didn't finish, but he didn't have to. Matthew knew when he first came to live with the Jones Family that Alfred's mother was away fighting a war in Afghanistan and had been for about two years. It was only a three months into Matthew living there when they all were notified that Mrs. Mary Anne Jones was KIA when a rescue mission went south.

Matthew put a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder and sent him a small smile. He decided a change of subject would be good. He thought for a moment, then spouted, "Hey, you remember that one episode of Naruto we watched last week?"

Alfred gratefully went along with him, picking up on the subject change. "Yeah, I do. Why?"

They reached the bus's stop sign; they stopped walking and stood to the side of the dirt road waiting. A small group of boys about their age were strolling towards them from a distance, making for the bus as well. The young men paid them no mind, though, and Matthew asked, "Well, you know that one move we tried to get down but never could?"

Alfred nodded his head, shifting so he stood just before the sign's post. The younger of the two took the opportunity to move back a step. He dropped his book bag to the side and then faced his brother again. Matthew was a little disappointed when he found his brother looking at his phone again, so he shouted, "Hey, Alfred! Watch this!"

That caught his attention, as well as the trio of friends just arriving at the bus stop. They looked on at the two, inching closer in curiousity, unseen by Matthew. Meanwhile, Matthew had taken up the stance he'd seen plenty of ninjas in movies do. Among the three boys behind him, there was oddly pale one, who just didn't seem to understand anything about safe distances from possibly dangerous things. As he crept closer, Matthew instantly jumped up in an uncoordinated attempt of recreating the Naruto move for his brother.

 _Crack!_

" _Oh my god_ Matthew! You just smacked that dude with silver hair in the _face_!"

Matthew whipped around, shocked and extremely surprised. He only spared a moment to look at the two friends-whom were holding their stomachs laughing-before he dropped to ground next to the guy he just injured. "Are you alright?" Matthew asked, worry shrilling his voice.

A moment later Alfred was by his brother's side. "Don't panic!" he exclaimed, clearly panicking.

"Not helping, Alfred!"

"Ja, I'm fine," the teenager replied, waving off Matthew and his distressed brother to sit up. He took a moment to wipe the thin dribble of blood from his mouth, and while doing so he looked Matthew up and down in surprise. "Damn, you pack a punch for someone your size."

Matthew flushed at the remark, and thought of commenting on it. Instead, he exclaimed another "I'm so sorry!" and pushed Alfred-who was leaning in again with excitement-back. Ambling upwards, the brothers hauled the boy to his feet, both stepping back a moment so the latter could brush himself off. The sound of laughter from afar was heard, making Matthew whip his head up. There, by the stop sign, were two teenage boys clutching their stomachs laughing.

Matthew heard the boy next to him grouch out something along the lines of " _-Toni and Francis are so dead-"_ before he turned back to the scene.

The tanner of the two was leaning over-he assumed that'd be Antonio, seeing as he kind of looked like one-, hands on his knees as he took great gasps of air in between his broken laughter. The next guy had his arms around his stomach like he were hugging himself, his face red and blond hair askew-this one he assumed was Francis, mainly because of his expensive looking fashion. From his right he heard an angry grumble and suddenly a new person arrived, this time much shorter than all of them, and much terser.

He stood a moment, taking in the scene, then marched up to Antonio with a short, " _Zitto_!" and slapped him on the back of the head. Antonio sat up instantly, confused hurt clear on his face, but the moment he saw who it was, his feature lit up. "What the hell is so funny, eh?'

"Oh, Lovino! You just missed it-" and into an animated explanation Antonio went, using wild hand gestures that seemed to only agitate Lovino. Before Antonio even finished, Lovino raised a single hand-which Matthew feared meant he might strike the poor guy again-to silence him and spoke " _Basta_!". Antonio halted, his arm mid-swing in the air, looking back at Lovino.

"Enough, I've heard enough," was all Lovino offered, but it seemed to suffice. Antonio swung his arms over him, pulling him in for an impromptu hug, and from there chaos seemed to break loose. Francis cooed, the boy Matthew knocked over complained loudly, and Lovino shouted an intense spiel of profanity. His brother seemed just as lost as he was, looking back and forth between all of them.

Matthew suddenly found his courage, and shouted, "Hey, guys! Stop fighting!" They all continued unperturbed. Alfred, though, echoed his brother and brought them all to a silent hush. "Thanks."

Lovino looked at Matthew in confusion. "Who the hell is he?"

The pale boy from before seemed interested too, and immediately set into asking a million questions per minute. One that clearly stuck out from the curious jumble was "What's your name?".

"Well, what's yours?" he decided to counter, feeling overwhelmed and needing a moment.

"Gilbert," was the answer. Matthew took another moment to take in Gilbert's appearance, so he could fit the name to a face for later reference. He noted the intense hue of red his eyes-probably colored contacts-and this wicked paleness of his skin and white hair. Matthew thought his looks suited his name. He didn't realize that the boy was looking at him expectantly.

"Oh, Matthew," he said and stuck a hand out. "My name is Matthew. It's nice to meet you Gilbert."

Gilbert took his hand and shook it vigorously. With a grin he said, "Ah, very nice to meet you. I believe that was a naruto move that knocked me a new one?" At Matthew's hesitant nod, his grin grew wider. "Ah, then I do believe that this will mark the beginning of a new friendship."

Matthew squeaked as Gilbert lifted him into a hug, swirling him around once, twice, thrice, and then setting him down with a lopsided smile. The boy stumbled, but managed to stay upright. He looked at Gilbert, and they both burst into a fit of gleeful laughter, leaving their cheeks red and their sides aching. Matthew didn't realize it at the time, but that day was only one of many extraordinary ones that would soon follow within their new friendship. It would also be one of his fondest yet most embarrassing memories. One that they'd laugh over at parties, one they'd share warmly as a new couple, one that Gilbert would incorporate into his proposal to Matthew, and one that made them the cutest couple at their local book club that met every Wednesday.


End file.
